https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/healt...pread-c-900634

Cumulative deaths in Finland through April 5 - 28
Cumulative deaths in Finland through April 6 - 27

Move WSOP to Helsinki any time after mid-May, problem solved

People in Britain were well aware that our hospitals were close to crisis point even before coronavirus took hold, and it's generally accepted that our government was a little slow in organising lockdowns and arranging for the supply of ventilators and PPE, but the IHME figures are much worse than even the pessimistic projections from other bodies.
That said, I think their model might have a flaw in it due to incorrect numbers for some of the variables. The IHME model says that Britain only has 799 ICU beds available, when I'm fairly sure the country has over 3200 (albeit they usually run at 80%+ of capacity) and several "field hospitals" with thousands of beds have been created. We're clearly some way from the peak here, however, (Spain and Italy have passed theirs) and continued exponential growth can only lead to scary numbers.

Europe will get better soon, I suspect America and Africa will struggle with the virus much longer...

It's very humid.
Did you know that India went from 10 deaths to 100 deaths slightly faster than the US did?

They have a doubling rate of 3 days there. Covid in India is (so far, according to offical stats) not killing people as quickly as it did in Spain, Italy, the UK, or Brazil, and India has started implementing lockdowns much earlier in its outbreak compared to European/North American countries, but it clearly has the potential to be a massive disaster, mainly because it doesn't have the same level of healthcare, and the population is much much bigger.
Humidity may be a factor that mitigates the problem, but India's fatality numbers are clearly going to be very high.

For an American, he's not a bad guy.

Seven-inning doubleheaders for 2020 MLB Regular Season?
Catchers prohibited from visiting the pitcher's mound?

Hell Yea. I have been wanting the electronic strike calls for a long time, I am sick of the umps making stupid calls.

That is only a slight delay

I just listened to a sports show that went over the MLB in detail.

A lot was mentioned above but also the players would basically all be isolated to the hotels in AZ and only be able to travel to the fields to play, which I think they said there are about 10 or so fields. That could be for 4 months straight away from families.

So they could play day and night games every day. Also the funny part about no fans and the players sitting in the stands 6 feet apart instead of the dugout, is if someone hits a 3 run homer lets say, there is no dugout celebration with high fives and hugs, etc.
Even returning to their seat in the stands, likely high fives would be a thing of the past.

Will be interesting for sure to see how it plays out. They would have a 2 to 3 week spring training and test out all these new measures before the regular season started.

Also because of likely 7 inning games and not knowing for sure how many games would play for the regular season, Draft Kings came up with a plan for futures totals, bet on win % instead of total wins.

Also they said 1 player testing positive would not call for shutting down, or testing the entire team, etc.

Was Easter in Finland in early April ?

hate 7 inning games but love robot umps

I just want to also point out from an Australian perspective that our state or territory with the greatest humid conditions in the Northern Territory, as most of its population live where it is closest to the equator (in Darwin), has seen the lowest rate of infection compared to other states and territories in Australia. So coincidence that it doesn't seem to be as contagious in these humid conditions I don't think so.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.abc.n...ticle/12122806

But my thinking along those lines when really this crisis broke was for most older Australians to travel and get on the road with their caravans and head north to the heat but of course that is too late now with the inter-state travel bans in place. I'm hoping the government looks at the data of the rates of infection around the country and allows that to happen though for older Australians who wish to head to the tropics as the temperature in the eastern and southern states plummet as we enter winter.

If the MLB players are quarantined in a hotel and don’t have outside contact, why would they need to maintain any physical distance amongst themselves?

robot umps would be the death of the game as far as I'm concerned. You really want a situation where a pitcher is getting squeezed in a late inning 15-2 blowout game? What's next, robot pitchers? Why not?

Robot ump just means on the pitch calls, and that is much needed as these guys can't call with any accuracy. Calling balls strikes and Vice versa.

It's probably more likely that it's because nobody goes to Darwin. Not even your own test match cricket team.

Yea I know what is meant, and I have no interest in some robot electronic zone squeezing pitchers in a late inning blowout game. As if the game isn't long enough. And "these guy can't call with any accuracy"? Give me a break.

What exactly are you talking about "some robot electronic zone squeezing pitchers in a late inning blowout game"?

Yea of course they probably call 90% correct pitches, but why not 100% with a computer?
No more BS calls.

I still think this is too risky of an idea. All it takes is for 1 player to start having symptoms and the whole thing would immediately get shut down. And imagine the public outcry if players are playing without symptoms infecting others, coaches, players, umps etc... I miss sports like the rest of america but it's still imo too early even next month to go with something like this. And the way this virus is easily spread you could see the writing on the wall that some ballplayer will get covid19 sooner rather than later.

Not a good idea.

Do doubling rates mean anything if some countries have policies of increasing the amount of testing being done along the COVID-19 pandemic timeline, along with prioritizing testing in such a way that high-risk citizens are being tested to the exclusion of others.

In my province people are calling 811 (COVID-19 line) and being told to chill out and stay home because they only have enough tests for people who are friends of confirmed COVID-19 patients. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's essentially what's going on.

Could you not say in the above example that having few tests at the outset, exponentially more as crisis worsens, and policies that isolate people who are certainly far more likely to be positive cases, is actually creating the curve that we're all being commanded to flatten?

I don't know what sort of product it would be, but as soon as things start opening up to the point that games could be held logistically, I think the leagues will try to get something on TV fast even without spectators. And if professional athletes balk at that concept, I think they may change their tune if their owners stop paying them. Not sure of the legalities with collective bargaining, but I'm pretty sure leagues have a fair bit of sway to do that if they aren't making any revenue.

I'm not sure exactly when the right time is, but I could see an argument being made for sports coming back earlier than some other restrictions are lifted. You're talking about a relatively small number of people involved, so a very strict regimen of testing would be possible.

Other provinces who undoubtedly had more tests available at the beginning were reporting widespread negative results. So again, if THOSE provinces were at the outset testing anybody, but then along the way as they get more tests and refine their policies move towards the prioritized method of testing, then it is going to create a scenario where obviously a higher percentage of taken tests are positive, but of course our media doesn't try to explain it that way.

They just show scary garphs and scream COVID BAD WE'RE AT WAR WITH COVID LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTER AND YOUR WIFE COVID BAD.

I'm honestly not too sure what your point is. I've rarely seen the % of tests that are positive being used by media - is that what's happening in your province?

Here in BC, from the very beginning tests have been used fairly selectively, but it appears to have had good results so far. Not just in # of cases, but in the areas that can't be obscured by different testing procedures - hospitalizations, patients in ICU, and fatalities.